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Many pay TV operators are starting to feel that Over The Top (OTT) services may be overrated. Their TV Everywhere services just aren’t winning over enough subscribers in some markets.

Yet, the OTT viewers are out there. In fact, they’re growing in number, and fast. Adobe reported in its Inaugural Video Benchmark Report that US pay TV subscribers viewing multi-screen video content nearly tripled from 4.4% to 12.5% between 2013 and 2014 *. The real problem for those with disappointing revenues is not a lack of viewers, but a failure to attract them. OTT viewers are being monopolized by subscription Video on Demand (VoD) services such as Amazon Prime and especially Netflix. Meanwhile just a handful of operators, such as Sky, are making their TV Everywhere services work alongside pure play offerings.

The tailor’s apprentice in Gottfried Keller’s short story is mistaken for a count because he is so well dressed. After many adventures and entanglements, he ends up with a wife, a workshop and wealth. Today, clothing mainly comes from Asia. It is no longer bought in specialist boutiques, but in discount stores, according to individual desires and means.

Each year, around €44 billion is spent on clothing in Germany. Of this, just under €40.2 billion is accounted for by German households, with other nationalities making up the remaining €3.8 billion, which is more than 9 percent of total spending on textiles. However, foreign national households spend a greater proportion of their non-food budget on textiles than Germans, at around 29 percent and approximately 27 percent, respectively.

The meteoric rise of digital combined with economic uncertainty has changed the path to purchase forever, creating a whole new raft of challenges for anyone selling through retail channels. We address these challenges in a series of four blogs, entitled “The future of retail”. Shoppers see no reason to be tied down to particular retailers, channels or brands if they can get a better deal elsewhere. The explosion of choice and atmosphere of austerity have together challenged the whole concept of brand loyalty. We therefore continue our journey by discussing the challenge presented by the decline of loyalty and suggesting how retailers and manufacturers should respond.

Whether it’s breathing new life into aging patents or capitalizing on the quantified self craze, pharmaceutical companies are finding ways to expand the reach and utility of their drug brands by developing digital companion applications that track, monitor, log, and calculate therapeutic data. If you are a product manager considering developing an app for that, you know that the app may be subject to some of the same human factors regulatory requirements that drug delivery systems must meet.

According to our Connected Car study, the car of the future is almost here. The arrival of connected vehicles will usher in a new era in automotive history and features that could not have been imagined a short while ago will soon come as standard with most new car models. But how widely do the new features on offer appeal to drivers? Our survey of 5,800 consumers in Brazil, Russia, China, Germany, the UK and US provides clues to their attitudes towards seven new connected car concepts. The results give much needed insight into how connected cars are likely to be received by the mass market and Leading Edge Consumers (LECs) – a highly influential group who often lead the way in the adoption of new technologies.

Take a moment to recall “Back to the Future (Part 2)”. Now picture Marty McFly’s surprise if he’d hopped in his time-traveling DeLorean in 1985, emerged in 2015 and discovered that he can watch TV on a mobile phone.

In his day people actually fitted their activities around the TV schedule. They’d drop what they were doing and head to their home’s designated viewing room to watch their favorite show.

But, as we know, thanks to anytime, anywhere viewing technology, TV watching is now much more complicated – and so are the viewers. Taking the place of the old “Couch Potatoes”, are…

Whether you produce or sell food and drink, make the tables consumers eat at, the kitchens they cook in or the appliances and utensils that help them, it’s vital that you know about trends in cooking. We are able to bring together a unique set of data sources to provide an insight into people’s attitudes, behavior and aspirations around eating at home. We draw on multiple sources including sales data, consumer trends and forward-focused research exploring homes of the future to highlight opportunities for innovation and growth across multiple food-connected categories.

Another season to write off. Farmers lamented the shortage of water, while fashion retailers bemoaned the shortage of customers. Very few could report an increase in sales over the spring months from March to May. For most high street fashion retailers, the results of their clothing business were generally in the red. In contrast, the majority of non-specialist stores saw their figures improve. As did online retail, of course.

Makers of health and beauty goods – particularly those selling in digitally developed Asia Pacific – should focus on the omni-channel market to capture the full sales potential that is developing there, according to our recent study conducted in four markets in the region.

That sales potential is driven by strong demand for omni-channel shopping in China, Japan, South Korea and Australia, compared to global averages.

Combine this with growing and aging populations, the emergence of a middle class in Asia Pacific, and savvy users of mobile internet devices, and the result is a significant opportunity for makers of health and beauty products.